"They are mirroring our pace."
Kira tightened her grip on the polymer stock of her assault rifle. She leaned her exhausted body against the frozen brick wall of a ruined alleyway.
Malcolm adjusted the optic settings on the Ironcrest Exoskeleton, projecting a detailed thermal map across his glowing red visor. They had abandoned the dead carcass of the Leviathan forty minutes ago, trading the safety of titanium walls for the lethal exposure of Sector Seven. The howling blizzard roared through the narrow urban canyon, biting through Kira's thermal cloak and stealing her body heat with every violent gust.
Her heart hammered a frantic rhythm against her ribs, and thick bitter bile pooled in the back of her throat. She forced herself to swallow the nausea, recognizing that panic would only ac
